We start 2020 off with high hopes to get our Telegram group growing to try to have all members of the WUG network to be part of the group, there are very few unrelated messages to the WUG, no spam is tolerated and is deleted within minutes, we try to change the group photo to that of the wiki’s “Highsite of The Day”, but are not always able to keep it updated. This group does not have spam, it is there for only WUG-related issues, anyone is welcome to send a message regarding issues they are having and admins will help them ASAP. You might have the same problems or will experience the same problems one day – you can learn a lot! There are under 10 messages per day (average over the last year) and are specifically WUG related such as for example “Johan Slabbert (admin): NW is UP! And connected to the rest of the WUG again.” sent the day before this post was written, and similar messages.
In 2019 we were able to get a lot of old WUG users who were no longer on the WUG due to some of the following reasons:
- Frequency list to scan being set incorrectly to a single frequency which the sector might have used in the past but is no longer using.
- Country not being set after ROS & firmware upgrades, preventing the radio from connecting.
- The protocol set to a single protocol that the highsite is no longer using, so changing the protocol to any fixed this.
- Sending instructions to users on how to set up new computers they have bought that are not connected to the WUG.
- Providing users with instructions to configure their computers to allow both internet and WUG, as some users had to choose the internet over WUG and were not aware that it’s very easy to have both on a device.
- Having users re-align their grids after many years where it was last aligned, which are no longer aligned properly due to weather, birds and multiple other factors.
- Psst. A trick to get birds off of your grid is to put thick cable ties at the top part between each section of the grid and cutting the cable ties short and at a sharp angle preventing birds from being on top of your grid.
- Helping users move to highsites we have created since previous ones that they were connected to were decommissioned.
- Users who no longer used the WUG because of very slow speeds, and us recommending to users who have highsites that support dual polarity (and even ones that don’t) to upgrade from over a decade-old system of a RouterBoard + Radio + Pigtail + LMR + Grid (or Groove + Grid) to upgrade to light head grids (LHGs) that are dual-polarity, support 20mhz/40mhz(/80mhz) channel width, as well as low noise and wireless-n support. An all-in-one system where a powerful radio is built into the dish-like grid already, and you simply need to run a POE cable to it.
- This helped a lot in most cases, didn’t help in some (those being where LOS is still not good as well as extremely long distances (7-10km+), in those, that it helped the best that I (shock) have personally seen is a user I helped in Valhalla, who had a 0.7mbit/s connection with a Routerboard + Radio + Pigtail + LMR + Grid, who bought himself a LHG upon my recommendation and his connection had become a lot better with an average of 6mbit/s constantly, a peak of 16-20mbit/s, and a low of 2.5mbit/s, CCQ was 100%, but with the previous equipment it was 30%. The connection was stable and did not drop once but with the previous equipment, it would drop at least 20 times an hour.
- Disclaimer: Upgrading kit does not guarantee any speed improvements, the highsite also needs upgrades – which requires donations.
- Many other ways to get users WUGGED again after they have not been WUGGED for years!
This is due to the tireless effort from all of the PTAWUG staff, donations from members of the WUG as well as from the staff and our new way of interacting with users through our Telegram group which is linked to the IRC server. In the past, there used to be two admins on IRC and not online always, users would join, ask for help and explain their situation, and then instead of waiting an hour or two for a response when those admins on IRC were able to, they usually left after 5-10 minutes since when they connected. Now when you join IRC your messages get relayed to our Telegram group with a lot of staff members, go2guys and WUGGERS – we respond within 5 minutes at any time during the day and up until late at night, we try our utmost best to help you through this chat relay. We do also make sure to mention to the users that we have a Telegram group and that they can get hold of us there at almost any time.
The Network Status layout will be changing for 2020, it will now be posted monthly – instead of at the end of each month it will now be posted once a month the first time there is a big change on the network – and anything else afterward will be in the next post. It will no longer be a detailed analysis regarding certain problems but will be almost like a copy of the whole “Network Status” section in the center widget of the home page.
Here is the Network Status for January and Mid-February:
Good News:
NW is now back up and running on the WUG! Thanks to jasweb and all those involved in getting this fixed, and to everyone who donated which has made this possible! Remember that kit costs money, and without donations, PTAWUG can not replace, upgrade or repair broken kit!
RL’s backbones have been fixed and/or replaced, excluding the one to SO, which is currently a very high priority. The sectors are still down but we are working with the property owner to be able to see what we can do.
Bad News:
North<>South are separated due to Basden (BD) having to be decommissioned.
The only links between the North<>South is via TN*.
If anybody, whether you’re a WUG user or just a person reading here, if you have a line of sight between the north and south of Pretoria, or to the Unitas Hospital, please contact info@ptawug.za.net or shock@ptawug.za.net directly.
RL (Raslouw) needs some serious maintenance and repairs, and we will be needing a LOT of donations and man-hours to handle the work. No matter what you’re good at, we will definitely appreciate any and all help. RL connects important highsites in Pretoria together and has a capacity for a very high throughput of data
*TN, also referred to as Teraco Network, is where we use our own personal internet and tunnel the WUG traffic to a central server kindly provided by JAWUG, and it is currently fully at capacity on the side of TN nodes – meaning that more highsites are needed to be connected so that traffic can be distributed easily. If there are any highsite owners with fibre >= 10mbit/s please contact shock, silver or any other PTAWUG staff.